Vegas
06-10-2007, 08:35 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/06/10/2007-06-10_hillarys_personality_problem_is_no_laugh-2.html
WASHINGTON - Did you hear the one about Hillary Clinton's awful singing? How about her sometimes Southern accent?
If you follow politics, you almost certainly have.
That's because Clinton's presidential campaign really wants you to hear those jokes, and others that her team of consultants have cooked up, to reassure you that Hillary Clinton is a person, too.
"She's often criticized for being a bit arrogant and not approachable," said image consultant Susan Abrams. "The campaign is trying to show that she's just like the rest of us, that she has a sense of humor, and that she's someone you can connect with, communicate with on almost any level."
For Clinton, warming up her image a bit could be key to her White House chances. An analysis of Gallup polling found that no Oval Office aspirant has won going into the election with a poor approval rating.
And Clinton's latest, according to Gallup, is just 46% positive against 50% negative. It's hard to win if people don't like you.
Clinton is said to have an especially sharp wit in private. But her public jokes in the past have rarely been funny. Her most common one-liner is probably that she "has the scars to show" for her failed effort at health care reform when her husband Bill Clinton was President.
That didn't even get a chuckle at her last debate.
But her comedy has been of a higher order lately, and often with a purpose.
After observers ripped the New York senator for lapsing into a mysterious Southern accent in front of Southern church audiences, she joked she spoke multiple dialects because she's lived all over the country.
"I think America is ready for a multilingual President," Clinton said.
And when millions of people were watching a YouTube video portraying Clinton as a programmed digital dictator from the famous "1984" Apple commercial, she deflected questions about it by pointing to a different YouTube video of her egregious warbling of the national anthem.
"I'm just happy if it's taking attention from my singing," she quipped.
Even though Camp Clinton knows they need people to like their champion better, not all her humor has been scripted.
Asked in her first Iowa campaign swing if she was tough enough to deal with dictators, Clinton repeated the question with perfect comic timing in a way that had her audience rolling for a full 30 seconds. "In the gentleman's words, we face a lot of evil men. And what in my background equips me to deal with evil and bad men?"
She left open the question of who those men might be, but pointed to one possibility in an apparently spontaneous crack at the last presidential debate, making fun of the White House's diplomatic efforts.
"Occasionally they even send Dick Cheney - and that's hardly diplomatic in my view," she said. The video of that remark was a hit on YouTube.
Will this charm offensive work?
"You either love her or you hate her," said Abrams. "Whether it's been effective, time will tell."
The best Clinton can do is buck up her fan base and maybe win over the few fence-sitters, she said. "However, the ones that don't like her, even if they think it's funny, it won't make a difference."
WASHINGTON - Did you hear the one about Hillary Clinton's awful singing? How about her sometimes Southern accent?
If you follow politics, you almost certainly have.
That's because Clinton's presidential campaign really wants you to hear those jokes, and others that her team of consultants have cooked up, to reassure you that Hillary Clinton is a person, too.
"She's often criticized for being a bit arrogant and not approachable," said image consultant Susan Abrams. "The campaign is trying to show that she's just like the rest of us, that she has a sense of humor, and that she's someone you can connect with, communicate with on almost any level."
For Clinton, warming up her image a bit could be key to her White House chances. An analysis of Gallup polling found that no Oval Office aspirant has won going into the election with a poor approval rating.
And Clinton's latest, according to Gallup, is just 46% positive against 50% negative. It's hard to win if people don't like you.
Clinton is said to have an especially sharp wit in private. But her public jokes in the past have rarely been funny. Her most common one-liner is probably that she "has the scars to show" for her failed effort at health care reform when her husband Bill Clinton was President.
That didn't even get a chuckle at her last debate.
But her comedy has been of a higher order lately, and often with a purpose.
After observers ripped the New York senator for lapsing into a mysterious Southern accent in front of Southern church audiences, she joked she spoke multiple dialects because she's lived all over the country.
"I think America is ready for a multilingual President," Clinton said.
And when millions of people were watching a YouTube video portraying Clinton as a programmed digital dictator from the famous "1984" Apple commercial, she deflected questions about it by pointing to a different YouTube video of her egregious warbling of the national anthem.
"I'm just happy if it's taking attention from my singing," she quipped.
Even though Camp Clinton knows they need people to like their champion better, not all her humor has been scripted.
Asked in her first Iowa campaign swing if she was tough enough to deal with dictators, Clinton repeated the question with perfect comic timing in a way that had her audience rolling for a full 30 seconds. "In the gentleman's words, we face a lot of evil men. And what in my background equips me to deal with evil and bad men?"
She left open the question of who those men might be, but pointed to one possibility in an apparently spontaneous crack at the last presidential debate, making fun of the White House's diplomatic efforts.
"Occasionally they even send Dick Cheney - and that's hardly diplomatic in my view," she said. The video of that remark was a hit on YouTube.
Will this charm offensive work?
"You either love her or you hate her," said Abrams. "Whether it's been effective, time will tell."
The best Clinton can do is buck up her fan base and maybe win over the few fence-sitters, she said. "However, the ones that don't like her, even if they think it's funny, it won't make a difference."